Category Archives: Conference

Anything relating to the spring or autumn conferences

Steve Webb’s speech to the Liberal Democrat conference

By Steve Webb MP | Published 21st September 2011 - 9:25 am

The other day, someone came up to me and said:

“Steve, you’re an above-average pensions minister!”

In a world where praise can be a bit hard to come by, I took that as a compliment.

But he quickly said:

“No, I didn’t mean that you’re good at your job, I meant you’ve survived longer than most pension ministers!”

And when I inquired, I found out that I was, indeed, the 11th different pensions minister in the last 14 years.

So it is hardly suprising that pensions policy has been a bit piecemeal and messy over the years.

Every change with the best of intentions, but put it …

Tagged disability living allowance, pensions | 5 Comments

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Tuesday/Wednesday

By Mark Pack | Published 21st September 2011 - 8:17 am

What happened on Tuesday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Wednesday:

(To find out more about any of the motions I mention, or indeed the others I’ve not highlighted, see the full agenda for the Liberal Democrats conference.)

Tagged chris huhne, richard flowers, steve webb | Leave a comment

Chris Huhne’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference

By Chris Huhne MP | Published 20th September 2011 - 10:47 pm

One abiding set of values that all Liberal Democrats share is a respect for our environment, natural systems and sustainability.

With this conference’s backing, we will hold course to be the greenest government ever.

No more, no less.

But are we still on course?

Well, I can hardly pick up a Tory paper these days without a whinge about energy and climate change policies.

It’s been nip and tuck between Vince and me in recent months to win an unpopularity poll – that’s on Conservativehome among Tory activists.

So as we assert Lib Dem values within government, we must be doing something right – or is …

Vince Cable does gloom

By Mark Pack | Published 20th September 2011 - 4:25 pm

The public’s attitude towards gloomy politicians is a curious one: only too happy to mock politicians who only talk up the positive but also frequently going off politicians who talk up the negatives. It happens across all parties, as we saw in the last Parliament where both Alistair Darling and George Osborne tried talking gloomily about the country’s economic difficulties and, far from being met by public support for their frankness, saw widespread criticism and slipping poll ratings. Journalists may love knocking politicians for not having been gloomier during the 2010 general election, but all the nearly all the signs …

Tagged alistair darling, george osborne, vince cable | 3 Comments

The significant part of Tim Farron’s speech

By Mark Pack | Published 20th September 2011 - 12:55 pm

Tim Farron is probably the Parliamentary Party’s best funny speech maker (though I’d pay good money to see him head-to-head in a laugh off with Alistair Carmichael), so it’s not a surprise that Tim’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference caught the headlines mostly for his humour and his stress-testing of political marriage analogies to destruction.

Yet there was a significant section about how Liberal Democrat ministers act and his own role:

There are 18 Liberal Democrats who don’t have the luxuries that I do.

They can’t just sound off if they don’t like government policy or trot through the no lobby on

…

Tagged alistair carmichael, danny alexander, george osborne, michael gove, sarah teather, tim farron, vince cable | 4 Comments

Opinion: I’d rather be boring than bonkers

By Tom Papworth | Published 20th September 2011 - 9:35 am

Monday night’s Channel 4′s coverage of the Liberal Democrat conference ended with Michael Crick interviewing Ann Treneman and Michael White about the general feel amongst Lib Dems.

Among the usual sniping from a reactionary sketch-writer and the doyen of the urban intellectual elite came a lament that the Liberal Democrat conference did not feel like a Liberal Democrat conference. People were too on message, they moaned; there was not enough rebellion; nor enough eccentricity. Michael White in particular bemoaned the absence of beards and sandals. Lib Dem conference, they felt, had become boring.

Too right.

We are not in the 1970s, when …

Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged ann treneman, birmingham 2011 conference, michael crick, michael white | 23 Comments

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Monday/Tuesday

By Mark Pack | Published 20th September 2011 - 7:19 am

What happened on Monday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Tuesday:

(To find out more about any of the motions I mention, or indeed the others I’ve not highlighted, see the full agenda for the Liberal Democrats conference.)

Tagged chris huhne, steve webb, vince cable | 1 Comment

LDVideo at Conference | Clegg & Cable on the economy; Andrew Neil’s take on the conference; and the power of Lib Dem conference reps

By Stephen Tall | Published 20th September 2011 - 7:10 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

Clegg welcomes Jaguar jobs boost; Cable warns of economic equivalent of war

(Available on the BBC website here.)

Andrew Neil’s Liberal Democrat conference report

Also posted in YouTube | Tagged andrew neil, birmingham 2011 conference, nick clegg, vince cable | Leave a comment

“All-Women Shortlists May Be Necessary, Senior Lib Dems Accept”

By Mark Pack | Published 19th September 2011 - 10:23 pm

So reports the Huffington Post:

Senior Liberal Democrats have accepted that the party may need to resort to all-female shortlists or other tough measures to increase the representation of women and minority groups among its MPs…

Tim Farron MP … said that he was “utterly embarrassed” that only seven of the party’s MPs were women.

He said:

“Over the years we’ve had several debates on the crushing lack of women in the House of Commons, and our zero lack of representation from black and ethnic minority communities, and the debates we’ve always had are about the practical way to create equality and the

…

Tagged all-women shortlists, equalities, gender balance, paddy ashdown, tim farron | 20 Comments

Jo Swinson MP writes: Quality of Life – A New Purpose for Politics

By Jo Swinson MP | Published 19th September 2011 - 8:27 pm

Decade on decade, the UK has been getting richer. For the most part, people today are materially considerably better off than they were back in the 1970s; however, statistics stretching back all those years show that our satisfaction with our lives has barely improved. We have more money and we’re pumping out more carbon emissions – but we don’t appear to be getting much pay-off for our own wellbeing.

Fortunately, the Liberal Democrats have recognised this problem.

For over two years, a working group has been studying the evidence to see whether Government can actually do anything to set us on a …

Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged Quality of life | 5 Comments

Vince Cable’s speech to LibDem conference

By Vince Cable MP | Published 19th September 2011 - 4:39 pm

You can watch Vince’s speech to the Lib Dem conference here…

(Available on the BBC website here.)

Or you can read the text in full here…

Tagged david willetts, ed balls, ed davey, gordon brown, vince cable | 1 Comment

Poverty and achievement: breaking the link – Sarah Teather’s speech to conference

By Sarah Teather | Published 19th September 2011 - 3:50 pm

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Children and Families, gave this speech yesterday to Liberal Democrat conference:

“Education… beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.“

The quote is from HoraceMann, the great 19th century American reformer. But it speaks to the instincts of liberals here with as much resonance as then.

The scandal is that though it should be true, it isn’t.

You will hear many people talk this week about the shocking state of the nation’s finances that was Labour’s legacy. I want to talk about another …

Tagged dan rogerson, ed davey, gerald vernon jackson, James Kempton, Joan Walmsley, pupil premium, simon wright, tessa munt | 2 Comments

LDVideo at Conference | Hugh Grant, Nick Clegg and Party Animals

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th September 2011 - 10:45 am

Hugh Grant presses phone hacking issue at Lib Dem conference

(Available on the BBC website here.)

Don’t forget our LDV caption competition — Nick Clegg meets Hugh Grant — is still open for entries…

Nick Clegg: Immoral to drop 50p tax

Also posted in YouTube | Tagged birmingham 2011 conference, hugh grant, nick clegg | Leave a comment

LibDem Conference passes drugs motion

By The Voice | Published 19th September 2011 - 10:15 am

From a party press release:

Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference [Sunday] passed Protecting Individuals and Communities from Drug Harms, which calls for an independent panel to review current drug laws.

Commenting, Co-Chair of the Home Affairs Parliamentary Party Committee, Tom Brake MP said:

“Drugs can have a devastating impact on individuals and families and can fuel organised crime. Evidence shows that our current drug policy is costly, ineffective and it is the poor and marginalised who suffer most.

“Today, Liberal Democrats reaffirmed our support for an evidenced based drugs policy, calling for an independent panel to review current drug laws.

“We want to ensure the Government …

Also posted in News | Tagged drugs, tom brake | 6 Comments

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